How America’s Largest University Uses Social For Branding

Adam Pierno, the Associate Vice President Marketing Strategy of Arizona State University joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss how universities can leverage social for powerful branding.

In This Episode:

Adam Pierno

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Full Episode Details

Strategies that ASU Uses to Reach Their Audience 

Branding today is worlds apart from what it used to be 100 or even 10 years ago. The strategies used back then may as well be locked inside a time capsule and tossed into the sea. The world has changed. And, the way brands use social media to engage with their audiences has changed. 

Nobody knows this better than Adam Pierno, who understands how to build brands by finding what is meaningful to their target audiences. Brands can learn more about their ‘best customer’ from observing pop culture than staring blankly at a soulless growth chart. And, when you’re America’s largest university, knowing how to integrate brand components to create a consistent persona across all your social channels is vital. 

A mistake that many brands continue to make is when they try to become a student of the platform or a student of the tools. As Adam teaches in his new book, ‘Specific’, you’ve got to become a student of the audience. In this episode, Adam reveals how you can do just that and reach out to your audience in a way that feels personal and specific to what they care about on social media today.  

In This Episode: 

• 05:00 – How brands can leverage a centralized marketing function to manage social chatter  
• 08:24 – The online mechanisms ASU leverage to boost student advocacy  
• 12:20 – An insight into the strategy and key functionalities behind ASU’s robust rewards app  
• 17:17 – How to work with corporate partnerships to benefit both parties
• 21:42 – How to identify the best agencies to work with from the timewasters
• 24:40 – Why you need to understand visuals no matter your job role
• 27:41 – How to use new techniques to communicate with your ‘best customer’ 

Quotes From This Episode: 

“You have to be sensitive about how your brand is perceived and what people think because media can start snowballing in a hurry.” – @apierno 

“Understand the context of what you’re doing enough to understand what things are important enough to fight over and what things aren’t.” – @apierno 

Resources 

• Get the new State of Marketing report for free from Salesforce here. 
• Find out more about the community at SocialMedia.org with a special form for Social Pros listeners here. 
• Find out more about Emma’s email marketing platform here 
• Read Adam Pierno’s NEW book, “Specific” here 
• Check out Adam Pierno’s book, “Under Think It” here 
• Listen to The Strategy Inside Everything podcast here